Suspects to pay bail before traveling
Suspects to pay bail before traveling
Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta
Aside from a letter from a doctor and a permit from the Attorney
General's Office, a corruption suspect or defendant wanting to
get medical treatment abroad will have to pay a bond, a newly
endorsed bill says.
According to articles in the bill that revises Law No. 5/1999
on the public prosecution service, the bond should equal the
amount the corruption suspect or defendant is accused of
stealing.
The House of Representatives endorsed the bill during a
plenary meeting attended by 202 of 500 House members on Thursday.
Under the current version of Law No. 5/1991, a suspect or
defendant need only produce a recommendation letter from a doctor
and a permit from the Attorney General's Office to go overseas
for medical treatment.
Of the 202 legislators attending the plenary meeting, 194
lawmakers voted for the bill's endorsement, while eight others
voted against it.
The eight are members of the Indonesian Nationhood Unity (KKI)
faction.
Hamid Mappa, KKI faction spokesman, questioned the decision to
raise the retirement age of prosecutors from 58 to 62. However,
another KKI faction member Tjetje Hidayat Padmadinata said that
the rejection of the revision by his faction was due only to a
"misunderstanding".
Tjetje said that his faction had agreed to the revision of the
Public Prosecution Service Law in earlier discussions with the
House's special committee.
House deputy speaker Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno who presided
over the plenary meeting stressed that differences of opinion
among House factions reflected democracy.
In his acceptance speech, Attorney General M.A. Rachman
meanwhile said that the decision to raise the retirement age of
prosecutors from 58 to 62 was aimed at creating professional
prosecutors. He did not elaborate.
Rachman said the revision of the law would compel prosecutors
to uphold law enforcement, public service, and corruption
eradication.
Earlier in the day, the House also endorsed the bill on the
establishment of the Judicial Commission, a new state institution
designed to improve the performance of the judiciary.
The Judicial Commission will have authority to select the
justices in the Supreme Court and to supervise the performance of
the justices.
The new commission will have seven members consisting of
former justices, legal practitioners, legal experts and members
of the community.
The commission will have the power to subpoena law officers
and judges to explain their actions as part of its supervisory
function.
The judicial commission can propose the dismissal of justices
to the Supreme Court and to the Constitutional Court, which would
later report the case to the president who will have the final
say.
Key Articles
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Article 37 (3): Besides a doctor's recommendation, a defendant is
required to pay a bond before leaving the country for medical
treatment. The bond shall equal the state losses resulting from
the crime.
Article 38: The president can set up a commission to supervise
and to boost the performance of the public prosecution service.
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